Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Sheer Mag - Compilation LP

I swear this is a positive review. I really do like Compilation LP by Sheer Mag. Anything I say negatively is purely me being a grumpy middle aged man telling the kids to get off his lawn.All of the information in Sheer Mag's press release refers to them as punk. I don't really hear the underground punk in this, but, like I said, I'm a middle aged white male. The music is edgy and noisy, but I don't know if I'm finding it hard enough to be punk. But this is a new generation that looks at Blink 182 and Reel Big Fish as "old school" punk. You'll see in the video below that the music doesn't come close to matching the pits that apparently happen at their shows, but in the 90s people used to beat the shit out of each other to Letters to Cleo, so what did we know back then?Ok, old man grumbling aside, Sheer Mag's collection of their first three EPs, Compilation LP, is fairly great. They have this great groovy sound, like someone mixed 70s soul and proto-punk. Think of what would have happened if Death and The Jackson 5 ever jammed together. The guitars are just dirty and fuzzy as fuck with post punk drumming. The vocals are a mixture of barked out and sung with actual melody. I don't mean separately, like a Linkin Park song or something. Somehow Suzi Quatro manages to do both at the same time. It's a really interesting turn for something considered punk, but punk is supposed to confuse us old fogies, so job well done!You can watch the video for "Fan the Flames" below. Compilation LP is available now. You can get your copy at Sheer Mag's Bandcamp. For more info on the band, check out their website.